Oct 20, 2017 3:00:09 PM | .NET Exceptions - System.Data.EntityException

A close look at the EntityException in .NET, including C# code illustrating how to create, read, update, and delete Entity Framework models.

Moving along through the detailed .NET Exception Handling series, today we will be exploring the EntityException. The EntityException is the base exception class used by the EntityClient provider, which is part of the overall Entity Framework, which enables model-to-object mapping and relationships throughout ADO-based applications.

In this article we'll examine EntityExceptions by looking at where it resides in the overall .NET exception hierarchy. We'll also go over some functional C# sample code to illustrate the basics of working with the Entity Framework in .NET, which can be used to create, read, update, and delete SQL databases with ease. Let's get started!

The Technical Rundown

All .NET exceptions are derived classes of the System.Exception base class, or derived from another inherited class therein. The full exception hierarchy of this error is:

Full Code Sample

Below is the full code sample we'll be using in this article. It can be copied and pasted if you'd like to play with the code yourself and see how everything works.

using System;

using System.Linq;

using Utility;

namespace Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException
 {
 internal class Program
 {
 private static void Main()
 {
 try
 {
 // Instantiate database context.
 var context = new BookEntityContext();


 // Delete database, if already exists.
 Logging.LineSeparator("DELETE DATABASE");
 context.Database.Delete();


 // Create database.
 Logging.LineSeparator("CREATE DATABASE");
 context.Database.Create();


 // Add some BookEntities to context.
 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Magician: Apprentice",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 485,
 new DateTime(1982, 10, 1)),
 context);


 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Magician: Master",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 499,
 new DateTime(1982, 11, 1)),
 context);


 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Silverthorn",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 432,
 new DateTime(1985, 5, 7)),
 context);


 // Output BookEntities found in context.
 OutputBookEntitiesOfContext(context);
 }
 catch (EntityException exception)
 {
 // Output expected EntityExceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception);
 if (exception.InnerException != null)
 {
 // Output unexpected InnerExceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception.InnerException, false);
 }
 }
 catch (Exception exception)
 {
 // Output unexpected Exceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception, false);
 }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Add a BookEntity to pass context and save changes.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="book">BookEntity to be added.</param>
 /// <param name="context">Context to which BookEntity should be added.</param>
 private static void AddBookEntityToContext(BookEntity book, BookEntityContext context)
 {
 context.Books.Add(book);
 context.SaveChanges();
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Logs the list of BookEntities in passed context.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="context">Context containing BookEntities.</param>
 private static void OutputBookEntitiesOfContext(BookEntityContext context)
 {
 // Select all books, ordered by descending publication date.
 var query =
 from book
 in context.Books
 orderby book.PublicationDate descending
 select book;
 Logging.LineSeparator("CURRENT BOOK LIST");
 // Output query result (books).
 Logging.Log(query);
 }
 }
 }
 
using System.Data.Entity;

namespace Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException
 {
 public class BookEntityContext : DbContext
 {
 public DbSet<BookEntity> Books { get; set; }
 }
 }
 
using System;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

using Utility;

namespace Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException
 {
 public class BookEntity : Book
 {
 /// <summary>
 /// Composited key for entity.
 ///
 /// Concatenates alphanumeric characters from Author and Title properties.
 /// </summary>
 [Key, Column("CompositeId", Order = 1)]
 public string CompositeId
 {
 get => $"{Regex.Replace(Author.ToLower(), @"[^A-Za-z0-9]+", "")}-{Regex.Replace(Title.ToLower(), @"[^A-Za-z0-9]+", "")}";
 set
 {
 if (value == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(value));
 }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Primary key for entity.
 ///
 /// Column.Order determines which key is used primarily and secondarily.
 /// </summary>
 [Key, Column("Id", Order = 0)]
 [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
 public int Id { get; set; }


 #region Constructors


 public BookEntity() { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author)
 : base(title, author) { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author, int pageCount)
 : base(title, author, pageCount) { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author, int pageCount, DateTime publicationDate)
 : base(title, author, pageCount, publicationDate) { }


 #endregion
 }
 }
 
// <Utility>/Book.cs

using System;

namespace Utility
 {
 public interface IBook
 {
 string Author { get; set; }
 int PageCount { get; set; }
 DateTime? PublicationDate { get; set; }
 string Title { get; set; }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Simple Book class.
 /// </summary>
 public class Book : IBook
 {
 public string Author { get; set; }
 public int PageCount { get; set; }
 public DateTime? PublicationDate { get; set; }
 public string Title { get; set; }


 public Book() { }


 public Book(string title, string author)
 {
 Author = author;
 Title = title;
 }


 public Book(string title, string author, int pageCount)
 {
 Author = author;
 PageCount = pageCount;
 Title = title;
 }


 public Book(string title, string author, int pageCount, DateTime publicationDate)
 {
 Author = author;
 PageCount = pageCount;
 PublicationDate = publicationDate;
 Title = title;
 }


 /// <inheritdoc />
 public override string ToString()
 {
 var publicationDate = PublicationDate is null ? null : $", published on {PublicationDate.Value.ToLongDateString()}";
 return $"'{Title}' by {Author} at {PageCount} pages{publicationDate}";
 }
 }
 }
 
// <Utility/>Logging.cs

using System;

using System.Diagnostics;

using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace Utility
 {
 /// <summary>
 /// Houses all logging methods for various debug outputs.
 /// </summary>
 public static class Logging
 {
 private const char SeparatorCharacterDefault = '-';
 private const int SeparatorLengthDefault = 40;


 /// <summary>
 /// Determines type of output to be generated.
 /// </summary>
 public enum OutputType
 {
 /// <summary>
 /// Default output.
 /// </summary>
 Default,
 /// <summary>
 /// Output includes timestamp prefix.
 /// </summary>
 Timestamp
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="value">Value to be output to log.</param>
 /// <param name="outputType">Output type.</param>
 public static void Log(string value, OutputType outputType = OutputType.Default)
 {
 Output(value, outputType);
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="value">Value to be output to log.</param>
 /// <param name="arg0"></param>
 public static void Log(string value, object arg0)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(value, arg0);
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="value">Value to be output to log.</param>
 /// <param name="arg0"></param>
 /// <param name="arg1"></param>
 public static void Log(string value, object arg0, object arg1)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(value, arg0, arg1);
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="value">Value to be output to log.</param>
 /// <param name="arg0"></param>
 /// <param name="arg1"></param>
 /// <param name="arg2"></param>
 public static void Log(string value, object arg0, object arg1, object arg2)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(value, arg0, arg1, arg2);
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// When <see cref="Exception"/> parameter is passed, modifies the output to indicate
 /// if <see cref="Exception"/> was expected, based on passed in `expected` parameter.
 /// <para>Outputs the full <see cref="Exception"/> type and message.</para>
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="exception">The <see cref="Exception"/> to output.</param>
 /// <param name="expected">Boolean indicating if <see cref="Exception"/> was expected.</param>
 /// <param name="outputType">Output type.</param>
 public static void Log(Exception exception, bool expected = true, OutputType outputType = OutputType.Default)
 {
 var value = $"[{(expected ? "EXPECTED" : "UNEXPECTED")}] {exception}: {exception.Message}";


 Output(value, outputType);
 }


 private static void Output(string value, OutputType outputType = OutputType.Default)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(outputType == OutputType.Timestamp
 ? $"[{StopwatchProxy.Instance.Stopwatch.Elapsed}] {value}"
 : value);
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(Object)"/>.
 ///
 /// ObjectDumper: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/852181/c-printing-all-properties-of-an-object&amp;lt;/cref
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="value">Value to be output to log.</param>
 /// <param name="outputType">Output type.</param>
 public static void Log(object value, OutputType outputType = OutputType.Default)
 {
 if (value is IXmlSerializable)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(value);
 }
 else
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(outputType == OutputType.Timestamp
 ? $"[{StopwatchProxy.Instance.Stopwatch.Elapsed}] {ObjectDumper.Dump(value)}"
 : ObjectDumper.Dump(value));
 }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs a dashed line separator to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="length">Total separator length.</param>
 /// <param name="char">Separator character.</param>
 public static void LineSeparator(int length = SeparatorLengthDefault, char @char = SeparatorCharacterDefault)
 {
 Debug.WriteLine(new string(@char, length));
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Outputs a dashed line separator to <see cref="Debug.WriteLine(String)"/>,
 /// with inserted text centered in the middle.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="insert">Inserted text to be centered.</param>
 /// <param name="length">Total separator length.</param>
 /// <param name="char">Separator character.</param>
 public static void LineSeparator(string insert, int length = SeparatorLengthDefault, char @char = SeparatorCharacterDefault)
 {
 // Default output to insert.
 var output = insert;


 if (insert.Length < length)
 {
 // Update length based on insert length, less a space for margin.
 length -= insert.Length + 2;
 // Halve the length and floor left side.
 var left = (int) Math.Floor((decimal) (length / 2));
 var right = left;
 // If odd number, add dropped remainder to right side.
 if (length % 2 != 0) right += 1;


 // Surround insert with separators.
 output = $"{new string(@char, left)} {insert} {new string(@char, right)}";
 }


 // Output.
 Debug.WriteLine(output);
 }
 }
 }

When Should You Use It?

Exploring the entirety of the Entity Framework is well beyond the scope of this article, but we need at least a basic understanding of it's purpose and functionality to see how EntityExceptions may be thrown and captured. Traditionally, associating a physical object model (i.e. a row in a database table) with a logical object model (i.e. a programmatic instance of an object written in source code) would require manually creating and managing complex SQL statements.

On the other hand, the Entity Framework provides an easy means of mapping logical and physical database models to one another. Thus, with just a few extra lines of code, the Entity Framework can associate an existing logical model with the underlying data layer and its physical model representation. The framework will handle all "standard" SQL statements, database creation, and CRUD (create, read, update, delete) functionality.

To see this in action we've got a simple example. We start with a Book class, which is implements from the IBook interface and primarily consists of a few basic properties:

// <Utility>/Book.cs

using System;


namespace Utility
 {
 public interface IBook
 {
 string Author { get; set; }
 int PageCount { get; set; }
 DateTime? PublicationDate { get; set; }
 string Title { get; set; }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Simple Book class.
 /// </summary>
 public class Book : IBook
 {
 public string Author { get; set; }
 public int PageCount { get; set; }
 public DateTime? PublicationDate { get; set; }
 public string Title { get; set; }


 public Book() { }


 public Book(string title, string author)
 {
 Author = author;
 Title = title;
 }


 public Book(string title, string author, int pageCount)
 {
 Author = author;
 PageCount = pageCount;
 Title = title;
 }


 public Book(string title, string author, int pageCount, DateTime publicationDate)
 {
 Author = author;
 PageCount = pageCount;
 PublicationDate = publicationDate;
 Title = title;
 }


 /// <inheritdoc />
 public override string ToString()
 {
 var publicationDate = PublicationDate is null ? null : $", published on {PublicationDate.Value.ToLongDateString()}";
 return $"'{Title}' by {Author} at {PageCount} pages{publicationDate}";
 }
 }
 }

Critically, since the Entity Framework maps logical models like Book with a physical version within a relational database, our logical Book model needs some sort of identifying key. By default, Entity Framework will look for a property named [ClassName]Id (e.g. BookId). However, we don't want to directly add a key to the Book class, so we'll inherit it with the new BookEntity class, which we'll use to add extra stuff just for this Entity Framework example:

using System;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

using Utility;

namespace Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException
 {
 public class BookEntity : Book
 {
 /// <summary>
 /// Composited key for entity.
 ///
 /// Concatenates alphanumeric characters from Author and Title properties.
 /// </summary>
 [Key, Column("CompositeId", Order = 1)]
 public string CompositeId
 {
 get => $"{Regex.Replace(Author.ToLower(), @"[^A-Za-z0-9]+", "")}-{Regex.Replace(Title.ToLower(), @"[^A-Za-z0-9]+", "")}";
 set
 {
 if (value == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(value));
 }
 }


 /// <summary>
 /// Primary key for entity.
 ///
 /// Column.Order determines which key is used primarily and secondarily.
 /// </summary>
 [Key, Column("Id", Order = 0)]
 [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
 public int Id { get; set; }


 #region Constructors


 public BookEntity() { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author)
 : base(title, author) { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author, int pageCount)
 : base(title, author, pageCount) { }


 public BookEntity(string title, string author, int pageCount, DateTime publicationDate)
 : base(title, author, pageCount, publicationDate) { }


 #endregion
 }
 }

The constructors are self-explanatory and they merely implement the base Book constructors. However, we've added two new properties of CompositeId and Id. Id is our primary key, which we specify with the KeyAttribute and DatabaseGeneratedAttribute. We want it to be an auto-incremented identity, so we also want to pass the DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity argument to the DatabaseGeneratedAttribute. Just to illustrate the functionality of creating composite keys, the CompositeId dynamically retrieves its value by concatenating the Author and Title properties.

Now, to connect our logical BookEntity model to a physical model we need to create a new System.Data.Entity.DbContext instance that includes a DbSet<BookEntity> property:

using System.Data.Entity;

namespace Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException
 {
 public class BookEntityContext : DbContext
 {
 public DbSet<BookEntity> Books { get; set; }
 }
 }

Now, instantiating BookEntityContext allows us to perform all manner of functionality within our physical database model. To test things out we start with the AddBookEntityToContext(BookEntity book, BookEntityContext context) method:

/// <summary>

/// Add a BookEntity to pass context and save changes.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="book">BookEntity to be added.</param>

/// <param name="context">Context to which BookEntity should be added.</param>

private static void AddBookEntityToContext(BookEntity book, BookEntityContext context)

{

    context.Books.Add(book);

    context.SaveChanges();

}

As you can see, this method merely adds the passed BookEntity parameter to the passed BookEntityContext, then saves the new changes to the physical database model. Additionally, after making modifications, we'll want to look at the database contents, so the OutputBookEntitiesOfContext(BookEntityContext context) method does this for us with a basic LINQ statement and log output:

/// <summary>

/// Logs the list of BookEntities in passed context.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="context">Context containing BookEntities.</param>

private static void OutputBookEntitiesOfContext(BookEntityContext context)

{

    // Select all books, ordered by descending publication date.

    var query =

        from book

        in context.Books

        orderby book.PublicationDate descending

        select book;

    Logging.LineSeparator("CURRENT BOOK LIST");

    // Output query result (books).

    Logging.Log(query);

}

Alright! Everything is setup, so let's test this out in our Program.Main() method:

private static void Main()

{

    try

    {

        // Instantiate database context.

        var context = new BookEntityContext();

 // Delete database, if already exists.
 Logging.LineSeparator("DELETE DATABASE");
 context.Database.Delete();


 // Create database.
 Logging.LineSeparator("CREATE DATABASE");
 context.Database.Create();


 // Add some BookEntities to context.
 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Magician: Apprentice",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 485,
 new DateTime(1982, 10, 1)),
 context);


 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Magician: Master",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 499,
 new DateTime(1982, 11, 1)),
 context);


 AddBookEntityToContext(
 new BookEntity(
 "Silverthorn",
 "Raymond E. Feist",
 432,
 new DateTime(1985, 5, 7)),
 context);


 // Output BookEntities found in context.
 OutputBookEntitiesOfContext(context);
 }
 catch (EntityException exception)
 {
 // Output expected EntityExceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception);
 if (exception.InnerException != null)
 {
 // Output unexpected InnerExceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception.InnerException, false);
 }
 }
 catch (Exception exception)
 {
 // Output unexpected Exceptions.
 Logging.Log(exception, false);
 }
 }

We start by creating a new instance of BookEntityContext. We then need to delete the underlying physical database (if it exists), since running this code multiple times would otherwise cause issues. We also then recreate the database after deleting it, so we start with a clean slate before adding data. Next, we call AddBookEntityToContext(BookEntity book, BookEntityContext context) a few times by passing in some books from the excellent Riftwar Saga series, before finally outputting the current data.

Executing this code results in the following output:

----------- DELETE DATABASE ------------

----------- CREATE DATABASE ------------

---------- CURRENT BOOK LIST -----------

{Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException.BookEntity(HashCode:3913996)}

  CompositeId: "raymondefeist-silverthorn"

  Id: 3

  Author: "Raymond E. Feist"

  PageCount: 432

  PublicationDate: 5/7/1985

  Title: "Silverthorn"

{Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException.BookEntity(HashCode:8807292)}

  CompositeId: "raymondefeist-magicianmaster"

  Id: 2

  Author: "Raymond E. Feist"

  PageCount: 499

  PublicationDate: 11/1/1982

  Title: "Magician: Master"

{Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException.BookEntity(HashCode:27416314)}

  CompositeId: "raymondefeist-magicianapprentice"

  Id: 1

  Author: "Raymond E. Feist"

  PageCount: 485

  PublicationDate: 10/1/1982

  Title: "Magician: Apprentice"

Cool! Everything worked just as expected. As we can see, our BookEntities were properly created, and our extra Id and CompositeId properties were populated as expected.

Now, you may be asking, "Where's the database connection string?" In an effort to keep things as simple as possible out of the box, the Entity Framework defaults to trying to use localdb or SQL Express, if either is locally installed (which is usually the case when using modern versions of Visual Studio). In this case, we can connect to sqlexpress.Airbrake.Data.EntityException.BookEntityContext.dbo and are greeted with a BookEntities table that has all the appropriate columns and is populated with the three recently added books!

Since there are so many potential problems that could lead to EntityExceptions that we'll just look at a simple example. Here we've added the UpdateBookPageCount(int id, int pageCount, BookEntityContext context) method:

/// <summary>

/// Update book page count via iteration.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="id">Book Id.</param>

/// <param name="pageCount">Book Page Count.</param>

/// <param name="context">Context containing Book to update.</param>

private static void UpdateBookPageCount(int id, int pageCount, BookEntityContext context)

{

    // Loop through all Books.

    foreach (var book in context.Books)

    {

        // If id matches, continue.

        if (book.Id != id) continue;

        // Update Page Count.

        book.PageCount = pageCount;

        // Save changes to context.

        context.SaveChanges();

    }

}

This method attempts to update the page count of a BookEntity via its Id property. However, this implementation is poor, since we're finding said matching book by iterating through all context.Books elements, rather than performing a LINQ query or similar. Still, it should get the job done, so let's test it out:

UpdateBookPageCount(1, 24_601, context);

Unfortunately, executing this code throws an EntityException at us, which includes an inner exception:

[EXPECTED] System.Data.Entity.Core.EntityException: An error occurred while starting a transaction on the provider connection. See the inner exception for details. ---> System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: New transaction is not allowed because there are other threads running in the session.

[UNEXPECTED] System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): New transaction is not allowed because there are other threads running in the session.

As indicated by the error, the issue is that we're attempting to perform a new transaction, via context.SaveChanges(), while an active transaction thread is already occurring due to the foreach(var book in context.Books) iteration loop. In essence, we aren't allowed to make changes to an element of an iterated collection while said iteration is still taking place.

To resolve this we'll clean up the way we find a book by Id by using a simple query, as previously mentioned:

private static void UpdateBookPageCount(int id, int pageCount, BookEntityContext context)

{

    // Find book by id.

    var result = context.Books.SingleOrDefault(book => book.Id == id);

    if (result == null) return;

    // Update page count.

    result.PageCount = pageCount;

    // Save changes to context.

    context.SaveChanges();

}

Executing this new version works as expected, adjusting the PageCount property to our database record for the BookEntity with Id of 1:

{Airbrake.Data.EntityCommandCompilationException.BookEntity(HashCode:45420240)}

  CompositeId: "raymondefeist-magicianapprentice"

  Id: 1

  Author: "Raymond E. Feist"

  PageCount: 24601

  PublicationDate: 10/1/1982

  Title: "Magician: Apprentice"

To get the most out of your own applications and to fully manage any and all .NET Exceptions, check out the Airbrake .NET Bug Handler, offering real-time alerts and instantaneous insight into what went wrong with your .NET code, along with built-in support for a variety of popular development integrations including: JIRA, GitHub, Bitbucket, and much more.

Written By: Frances Banks